Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical safety protection, and in particular, it relates to an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) that can precisely detect and identify arc faults in electrical circuitries and devices.
Description of the Related Art
Currently, fire caused by arc faults between the hot (L) and neutral (N) lines, L and L lines or L and ground lines in electrical wirings inside homes or consumer electrical appliances constitutes a grave threat to people's life and property. At present there is not a very few products that focus on arc fault detection, but most of them utilizes digital circuitry or micro-computer unit (MCU), which makes them not very reliable. For example, when a digital circuitry or an MCU receives a weak detection signal in an arc-like but none-arc status, it often makes an erroneous determination. In addition, detection of arc signal is often affected by various load and electromagnetic interferences, which will also lead to an erroneous determination.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a highly reliable circuitry that can accurately detect arc fault signals and protect corresponding power supply and/or loads.